Kinsler homes twice as Rangers win 10th straight

Associated Press

Associated Press

Published 12:28 am, Sunday, July 17, 2011

Texas Rangers' Ian Kinsler watches his solo home run in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 16, 2011, in Seattle. It was Kinsler's second home run of the game. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Photo: Ted S. Warren, Associated Press

Texas Rangers' Ian Kinsler smiles in the dugout after he hit a solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 16, 2011, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Photo: Ted S. Warren, Associated Press

Texas Rangers' Ian Kinsler smiles in the dugout after he hit a solo...

Texas Rangers starting pitcher C.J. Wilson follows through on a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 16, 2011, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Photo: Ted S. Warren, Associated Press

Former Seattle Mariners general manager Pat Gillick, center, is surrounded by players and coaches from the Mariners 116-win 2001 season as he throws out the first pitch of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Saturday, July 16, 2011, in Seattle. The group was present for a recognition of the 10th anniversary of the Mariners' 2001 season. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Photo: Ted S. Warren, Associated Press

SEATTLE — Ian Kinsler hit two home runs off Mariners ace Felix Hernandez and the Texas Rangers won their 10th straight game with a 5-1 victory over Seattle on Saturday night.

C.J. Wilson (10-3) allowed just one run over seven innings and struck out seven in shutting down an inept Mariners lineup.

The winning streak is the longest in the majors this season. For the Mariners, it was their season-high eighth straight loss.

Kinsler hit his fifth leadoff home run of the season off Hernandez (8-8) as the Rangers jumped on top early.

C.J. Wilson allowed just one hit and a walk to the floundering Mariners offense over the first four innings pushing the Mariners scoreless inning streak to a franchise-record 30 straight innings without a run.

Franklin Gutierrez led off the fifth inning with a single and stole second base to get into scoring position with no one out. Ichiro Suzuki delivered a two-out single to center to break their scoring drought and even the game at 1-1.

Endy Chavez led off the sixth inning with a single to right and moved to second on a sacrifice from Kinsler. Elvis Andrus singled to drive in Chavez and put Texas back on top.

Kinsler hit his second home run with one out in the eighth inning. As soon as Kinsler connected, Hernandez threw a punch in the air in obvious disgust as the ball sailed into the left field seats.

Andrus picked up his third hit of the night on a single to left field. Hernandez balked to move Andrus to second prompting manager Eric Wedge to vehemently argue with second base umpire Fieldin Culbreath before getting tossed from the game. A wild pitch then moved Andrus to third and he scored on a chopper back to the mound from Josh Hamilton that Hernandez nonchalantly tossed to first base allowing Andrus to score.

Jamey Wright replaced Hernandez and gave up a single to Adrian Beltre and double to Nelson Cruz to score Beltre from first that gave Texas a 5-1 cushion.

Notes: Boston previously held the longest win streak this season with nine straight from June 3 to June 12. ... Texas had their streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings snapped in the fifth inning. The streak tied for second longest in franchise history. ... The Mariners set a franchise record going 30 innings without scoring a run. The previous mark of 29 straight innings was set from June 7 to June 11, 2004. ... Seattle honored the 2001 team in a ceremony before the game marking the 10th anniversary of their 116 win season with more than 20 members of the squad in attendance. ... It was Kinsler's second multi-home run game of the season and ninth of his career.